Summer 2018 is the summer that two Charles Town churches come together to host one VBS event July 8 – 12^th!

 Please register your child by downloading and completing this VBS REGISTRATION FORM 2018

Charles Town Presbyterian Church is pairing up with St. Thomas Lutheran Church! VBS will be held at CTPC each night. If you are interested in helping with VBS this summer and teaching the kiddos of our community about the Love of God and Jesus, please contact Molly Blue at the church office (304.725.5316) or by email (mrogers@ctpres.org). Thank you! This is going to be the best VBS yet!

Our next VBS meeting is Monday, June 18^th, at 6 p.m. at CTPC. If you are a leader or teammate, please join us. Thank you!

I recently had the opportunity to teach on Psalm 69. In this prayer of David, he cries out to God in a very dramatic way. He opens the psalm saying, “I don’t see you, my throat is sore from calling to you, and I’m sinking. Help!”

Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever gone through something so hard that you wondered where God was and why you couldn’t find him? A disease, a death, destruction and calamity – this world us full of reasons and events that can make us question our faith if we are not careful.

By the time David gets to the end of the psalm, something changes. “Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them. For God will save Zion” (34-35). David starts the psalm confident that God cannot be found, and he ends the psalm confident that God will deliver. So, what changed?

The answer is in verses 29-30: But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high! I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. In the beginning of the psalm, David says, “What about me?” In verses 29-30 he says, “I’m in pain, but I have God.” David moves from focusing on his situation to focusing on God.

Whatever it is you are going through, whatever you are facing, know that it will be easy to wonder where God is. But also know that if you shift your focus to what God is doing instead of what God isn’t doing, what you are going through may be easier to endure.

Blessings,

Pastor John

So far, so good!

Last Sunday we publicly launched our Save the Steeple campaign. The response has been very exciting! We immediately received over $10,000 in new pledges, and over $4,000 in actual gifts. This brings our totals to approximately $61,000 in total pledges to date, and almost $30,000 in gifts received!

When you consider that pledges are not due until June 24 and the deadline for fulfilling pledges is over 18 months away, this is a phenomenal start. There is no reason to believe that we won’t meet our goal. That said, we must continue to work harder than ever. We must be diligent in prayer. As I preached last week on Nehemiah 2, when confronted with the opportunity to repair the wall of Jerusalem, Nehemiah’s first reaction was to pray. This is our first, best response, as well. Last week we started the prayer tent-card ministry, something that was a feature of our last campaign. Each month in the bulletin, a new tent card will be given to the congregation. This is meant to be used regularly for the duration of the project, and then hopefully, beyond.

We also need to consider our own financial commitment. The last large-scale building project for Charles Town Presbyterian Church was in 1960 – almost sixty years ago! The generations before us sacrificed in great ways to create a church building to be used to God’s glory and gospel ministry. Now is our time to sacrifice. To save the steeple, we will all need to give, and then give even more.

We will also need to spread the word about events like tomorrow’s Yokefellow’s Pancake Dinner (4:30-7:00pm – I hope to see you there) and the “Night in Little Italy” pasta dinner and silent auction on Saturday, June 23. We will need help securing silent auction items from local businesses, help with serving the dinner, and to help getting the word out. And of course, everyone is welcome to attend.

Most of all remember this: though the task ahead is great, God is greater. Keep the matter before God in prayer, and then, get busy!

Blessings,

Pastor John

Vacation Bible School Information: Summer 2018 is the summer that two Charles Town churches come together to host one VBS event! July 8 – 12, Charles Town Presbyterian Church is pairing up with St. Thomas Lutheran Church!

Please register your child by downloading and completing this VBS REGISTRATION FORM 2018

VBS will be held at CTPC each night. We have leaders for: Bible Discovery, Imagination Station (Crafts), and Kid Vid Cinema. The children need a volunteer to be our Shipwrecked Games instructor! If you are interested in helping to teach our children about the Love of Christ this summer, please contact Molly Blue at the church office (304.725.5316) or by email (mrogers@ctpres.org). Thank you!

This is going to be the best VBS yet! We are having a VBS Team Leader Meeting on Monday, May 14^th, @ 6 p.m. If you are a leader for VBS this year, PLEASE come to this meeting. We will be meeting all of our other leaders from the Lutheran church and we will start planning how to decorate each room. See you then!!

2019 UPDATE 

As stated previously, while the construction project has completed, our campaign of fundraising was to continue, but conclude this year to close in on the funding gap.

Pastor John Bethard gives his thanks to all that participated in the Panera Fundraiser in the latest CTPress newsletter.

December 2018 UPDATE 
The total cost of the steeple project was $147,800. To date, and in less than a year, we have received $110K of which $85K was pledged. The session has now committed to increase their giving by 20% and the Yokefellows have pledged an additional $2500 in 2019. With these additional pledges and the balance still come from previous pledges, our shortfall is only $8500. This is AMAZING! The session would like to thank you for your commitment and generosity. This generosity has also been shown by increased giving to our regular budget expenses and a greater participation in the life of this congregational family this year.
Well Done!

October 2018 UPDATE
The scaffolding came down and the construction has finished. We will continue fundraising and collecting pledges through the end of 2019.

Contact our office if you’d like a copy of this printed tri-fold brochure.

Our congregation has been praying on this, and we believe it’s time to make the investment to Save the Steeple and preserve it’s symbolism in our Historic City of Charles Town.  To this end, we have begun a Save The Steeple campaign.  Like our Worship services, all are welcome to participate.  Your donation is Federal tax-exempt (see the bottom of our home page for the EIN).